The Daily Fuckup

A federal judge on February 18, 2022, let key civil claims tied to the Jan. 6 attack move forward against Donald Trump, rejecting his effort to end the case at the pleading stage. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said the plaintiffs had alleged enough to keep their claims alive for now. The ruling did not decide liability.

Mehta’s opinion also pared back the case in other places. He dismissed similar claims against Donald Trump Jr. and Rudy Giuliani, while allowing the core allegations against Trump to proceed. The decision turned on whether the complaints were legally plausible, not on whether Trump ultimately caused the violence at the Capitol.

Trump had argued that he was shielded by presidential immunity and by the First Amendment. Mehta rejected those defenses at this stage, finding that the alleged conduct fell outside the protections Trump claimed. That keeps the civil litigation alive and opens the door to discovery, where plaintiffs can seek documents, testimony and other evidence.

The ruling means the lawsuits remain a live test of what Trump said and did in the run-up to Jan. 6 and whether those actions can support civil liability. It is not a final judgment, and it does not settle the facts. But it does mean Trump will have to keep fighting the claims in court instead of ending them at the start.